Customer shopping help system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing customer shopping help include a system provider device that receives first customer location information from a plurality of beacon devices at a merchant physical location. The first customer location information is collected during a shopping session from a first customer device that is associated with a first customer. The system provider device analyzes the first customer location information to determine a merchant physical location area that is included in the merchant physical location and in which the first customer has not been located during the shopping session. The system provider device then selects a first product, from a plurality of products that are associated with the merchant physical location in a database, which is located in the merchant physical location area. The system provider device then provides a product recommendation for the first product over the network for display on the first customer device.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a Continuation of U.S. Utility patent applicationSer. No. 14/178,111, filed Feb. 11, 2014, entitled “CUSTOMER SHOPPINGHELP SYSTEM”, Attorney Docket No. 70481.1243, which claims priority toU.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/910,636, filed on Dec.2, 2013, entitled “CUSTOMER SHOPPING HELP SYSTEM,” Attorney Docket No.70481.1183. This application is related to U.S. Utility application Ser.No. 14/178,125 filed Feb. 11, 2014, entitled “CUSTOMER SHOPPING HELPSYSTEM”, Attorney Docket No. 70481.1256 and U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/872,697, filed Oct. 1, 2015, entitled “CUSTOMER SHOPPING HELPSYSTEM,” Attorney Docket No. 70481.1243US02. The present application isrelated to the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure generally relates to physical merchant locations,and more particularly to a customer shopping help system for physicalmerchant locations.

Related Art

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobilepurchases are growing very quickly.

Some payment service providers provide online and mobile paymentservices for merchants with physical merchant locations and theircustomers. For example, payment service providers may provide the onlineand/or mobile payment services discussed above, and in the course ofdoing so, collect data about customer payment habits with the merchants.However, such data is limited to transactions conducted betweencustomers and merchants, and thus any attempt to analyze that data forassisting the customer in making purchases is limited to data collectedfrom purchases by that customer from that merchant or other merchants.

Thus, there is a need for an improved customer shopping help system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantphysical location.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a beacondevice;

FIG. 3a is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a customershopping help system that includes a plurality of the beacon devices ofFIG. 2 in the merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3b is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the customershopping help system of FIG. 3a with the beacon devices providingcommunication areas;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding shopping help to a customer;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a customermoving through the merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device analyzing the customer movements illustrated in FIG. 5,along with other information, to provide shopping help to a customer;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment a plurality ofmerchant physical location areas that are included in the merchantphysical location of FIG. 1 and in which the customer has not beenlocated during a shopping session;

FIG. 8a is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a product recommendation screen;

FIG. 8b is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a product recommendation screen;

FIG. 8c is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a product recommendation screen;

FIG. 8d is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a product recommendation screen;

FIG. 8e is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a shopping list product location screen;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a plurality oflinked customer devices;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a plurality ofcustomers moving through the merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11a is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a product recommendation screen;

FIG. 11b is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a customer devicedisplaying a linked customer messaging screen;

FIG. 12 is a front view illustrating an embodiment of a merchant devicedisplaying a merchant screen;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a customerdevice;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 16 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a system and method for helping acustomer with shopping at a merchant physical location. A plurality ofbeacon devices at the merchant physical location collect customerlocation information from customer devices that allow the position ofcustomers to be tracked throughout the merchant physical location duringcustomer shopping sessions. A system provider device receiving thecustomer location information for a given customer may analyze thatcustomer location information to determine areas in the merchantphysical location that the customer has not been. The system providerdevice may then use a variety of merchant information, productinformation, and/or customer information to select a product in an areaof the merchant physical location that the customer has not been, andrecommend that product to the customer. For example, the serviceprovider device may determine that the customer has not been in an areawhere a product is on sale and, in response, recommend that product tothe customer. In another example, the service provider device maydetermine that the customer has not been in an area that includes aproduct that the customer regularly purchases but has not purchased in apredetermined amount of time and, in response, recommend that product tothe customer. In another example, the service provider device maydetermine that the customer has not been in an area that the customerhas regularly visited in previous shopping sessions and, in response,recommend to the customer a product in that area. In another example,the service provider device may determine that the customer has not beenin an area that includes a product on a customer shopping list and, inresponse, recommend that product to the customer.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a merchant physical location100 is illustrated. The merchant physical location 100 includes amerchant building 102 having a plurality of exterior walls 102 a, 102 b,102 c, and 102 d that define a merchant physical location interior 104that, in the embodiments illustrated and discussed below, is utilized asa grocery store. However, one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that the customer shopping help systemdescribed herein may be utilized with virtually any merchant physicallocation such as, for example, an electronics store, a clothing store, abook store, a hardware store, and/or a variety of other merchantphysical locations known in the art. The exterior wall 102 a includespair of exterior doors 106 a and 106 b (e.g., “front” doors in theillustrated embodiment).

In an embodiment, the merchant physical location interior 104 of themerchant physical location 100 includes a plurality of product sections.For example, as discussed above, in the embodiments discussed below themerchant physical location 100 is a grocery store and the merchantphysical location interior 104 includes a Coffee section 108, a Bakerysection 110, a Meat section 112, a Dairy section 114, a Produce section116, and a Pharmacy section 118. While a few examples for a grocerystore have been provided, one of skill in the art will recognize thatany variety of different product sections in any merchant physicallocation will fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Themerchant physical location interior 104 also includes a plurality ofproduct shelves 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, and 120 e, each of which mayhold products. The merchant physical location interior 104 also includesa plurality of check-out stands 122 a, 122 b, 122 c, and 122 d that mayeach include systems for allowing customers to purchase products locatedin the merchant physical location 100.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of a beacon device 200 isillustrated. The beacon device 200 includes a chassis that houses afirst communications system 204 such as, for example, a Wificommunications system. The first communications system 204 is coupled toa beacon engine 206 that may be provided by instruction on a memorysystem (not illustrated) in the beacon device 200 that, when executed bya processing system (not illustrated) in the beacon device 200, causethe processing system to perform the functions of the beacon device 200discussed below. The beacon engine 206 is coupled to a secondcommunication system 208 such as, for example, a Bluetooth® Low Energy(BLE) communication system. The beacon engine 206 may be configured toreceive any of a variety of sensor signals through the secondcommunication system 208 and transmit those sensor signals using thefirst communication system 205. While a few examples of communicationscomponents in the beacon device 200 have been described, one of skill inthe art will recognize that other communications devices, as well asother components that have been omitted for clarity of discussion andillustrated, may be included in the beacon device 200 and will fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure. One of skill in the art willrecognize that the components described above allow for the beacondevice to be provided in a relatively small form factor such that it maybe placed inconspicuously almost anywhere. As such, the chassis 202 ofthe beacon device 200 may include any of a variety of features thatallow for the coupling of the beacon device to any part of a merchantphysical location, discussed below.

Referring now to FIGS. 3a and 3b , an embodiment of a customer shoppinghelp system 300 is illustrated. As illustrated in FIG. 3a , the customershopping help system 300 is provided by positioning a plurality of thebeacon devices 200, discussed above with reference to FIG. 2, in andaround the merchant physical location 100, discussed above withreference to FIG. 1. As discussed above, the beacon devices 200 may besized such that they may be inconspicuously positioned virtuallyanywhere in or around the merchant physical location 100. For example,the beacon devices 200 may be positioned on the ceiling of the merchantphysical location interior 104, on the product shelves 120 a-e, on thecheck-out stands 122 a-d, and/or in any other part of the merchantphysical location 100. Each of the beacon devices 200 in the customershopping help system 300 may be configured to wirelessly communicate,via its first communications system 204, with a merchant networkcommunication device 302 such as, for example, a Wifi wireless routerconnected to a network such as the Internet.

Referring now to FIG. 3b , in operation, each of the beacon devices 200is configured to create a communication area 304 with its secondcommunications system 204. For example, the second communications system204 in each beacon device 200 may be BLE communications device thatprovides an approximately 100 foot radius communications area. However,other communications systems providing other communications areas areenvisioned as falling within the scope of the present disclosure. As canbe seen in the illustrated embodiment, the beacon devices 200 may bepositioned in and around the merchant physical location 100 such thatthe communications areas 304 abut, overlap, or otherwise providecoverage for any area of interest within and around the merchantphysical location 100. As such, one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will appreciate that different configurations ofthe beacon devices 200 within and around the merchant physical location100 may be selected to cover any area within and around the merchantphysical location 100 with a communications area 304. As discussed infurther detail below, each of the beacon devices 200 are configured tocommunicate with customer devices within their respective communicationsarea 304 (e.g., using the second communication system 208) to collectinformation, and then send that information to the merchant networkcommunication device 302 (e.g., using the first communication system204) such that the data may be provided to a merchant device, a systemprovider device, and/or any other device operating to provide customershopping help system discussed below.

In the embodiments illustrated and discussed below, the beacon devices200 and their communications areas 304 are not illustrated for clarity,but it should be understood that the communications and retrieval ofinformation from beacon communication devices, and the provision of thatinformation to a system provider device, is accomplished using beacondevices providing communications areas such as the beacon devices 200and communications areas 304 illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b . While aspecific example of a customer shopping help system 300 is provided, oneof skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that a wide variety of different merchant physical locationsmay incorporate the beacon devices 200 in a variety of manners whileremaining within its scope.

In the embodiments discussed below, the customer shopping help systemsand methods involve a system provider using a system provider device toretrieve information collected by the beacon devices 200 through anetwork (e.g., the Internet). In such embodiments, the system providermay associate the merchant physical location 100 (or its merchant), thebeacon devices 200, merchant devices, and/or other components of thesystem with a merchant account in a database located in a database in anon-transitory memory. As such, information received from the beacondevices and merchant devices may be associated with the merchant accountin the database, and any results of the analysis of that information maybe stored in associated with that merchant account. In otherembodiments, the system provider device may be a merchant device that islocal to the merchant physical location 100 and that communicates withthe beacon devices 200 using the merchant network communication device302.

In an embodiment, the operation of the customer shopping help system 300may include providing a map of the merchant physical location 100 andthe relative locations of the products provided therein. For example,the dimensions, relative locations, and/or other characteristics of theCoffee section 108, Bakery section 110, Meat section 112, Dairy section114, Produce section 116, Pharmacy section 118, product shelves 120 a-d,check-out stands 122 ad, product advertisements, marketing materials,and/or any other feature in the merchant physical location interior 104may be provided to the system provider device. As discussed below, theprovision of such information to the system provider device allows thesystem provider device to create and utilize a detailed map, layout, orother reproduction of the merchant physical location interior 104.Furthermore, the positions/locations of products in the merchantphysical location interior 104 may also be provided to the systemprovider device. In one example, the ositions/locations of products maybe provided by the merchant or a system provider by selecting areas on amap of the merchant physical location 100. In another example, beaconcommunication devices may be attached to each product, and those beaconcommunication devices may be configured to report a productidentification and a location for each product to the beacon devices 200(e.g., using a communication systems such as the BLE communicationssystem discussed above.) As discussed below, the provision of suchinformation to the system provider device allows the system providerdevice to determine the current location of any product in the merchantphysical location interior 104. While a few examples of the provision ofmerchant physical location layout information and product locationinformation to the system provider device have been described, one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognizethat a wide variety of merchant physical location information, productinformation, and information provisioning techniques will allow for thefunctionality of the system provider device discussed below, and thuswill fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, FIGS. 1, 3 a, and 3 b illustrate a merchant physicallocation 100 that is a single building, and the beacon devices 200 arepositioned to provide communications areas 304 that cover the interiorof that single building, and outside sections in the front of thatsingle building. However, beacon devices 200 may be positioned virtuallyanywhere to retrieve information associated with a merchant physicallocation. For example, the merchant physical location may be locatedadjacent to or associated with a parking lot, and beacon devices may bepositioned around that parking lot, at the entrances or exits of thatparking lot, and/or anywhere else relative to that parking lot in orderto collect and send information from customer devices to the systemprovider device. In another example, the merchant physical location maybe located in a mall, and beacon devices may be positioned around thatmall, at the entrances or exits of that mall, and/or anywhere elserelative to that mall in order to collect and send information fromcustomer devices to the system provider device. In some examples, thefirst communication system may be connected to Wifi networks availableoutside the merchant physical location in order to communicate collectedinformation to a system provider device. In other examples, the firstcommunication system may be a cellular communications system that allowsthe beacon devices to be positioned anywhere in range of a cellularcommunications tower, allowing beacon devices to be positioned invirtually any physical location when providing the customer shoppinghelp system.

Referring first to FIGS. 4 and 5, an embodiment of a method 400 forproviding customer shopping help is illustrated. The method 400 beginsat block 402 where customer location information is collected during acustomer shopping session from the beacon devices. In an embodiment, ashopping session of a customer may include the detection by the beacondevices 200 of that customer entering the merchant physical location100, the beacon devices 200 tracking the location of that customerthroughout the merchant physical location 100, and the beacon devices200 detecting that customer leaving the merchant physical locations. Forexample, a shopping session for a customer may include the period thatthe customer is detectable by the beacon devices 200. In someembodiments, the shopping session may include a transaction conductedbetween that customer and the merchant at the merchant physical location100. For example, a shopping session for a customer may end when thatcustomer makes a purchase from the merchant. However, in otherembodiments, a transaction may not be part of the shopping session(e.g., a “window shopping” session). Furthermore, in some embodiments,shopping sessions may include multiple detections of the customerentering and exiting the merchant physical location 100. Further still,as discussed below, a shopping session may be associated with more thanone customers. Thus, while a few examples are provided, a shoppingsession may include any number of customer visits to the merchantphysical location 100 that are tracked using the beacon devices and usedto determine one or more areas in the merchant physical location 100that the customer has not been located during that shopping session.

Referring to FIG. 5, an embodiment of the collection of customerlocation information at block 402 is illustrated. In the embodimentsdiscussed below, the term “customer” is applied to people that concludea shopping session with a transaction with the merchant at a check-outstand 122 d in the merchant physical location 100. However, “customer”may also apply to people that simply position themselves within range ofa communication area 304 of a beacon device 200 in the merchant physicallocation 100 (e.g., potential customers, customer that are browsingproducts in the merchant physical location 100 without actually buyingany products, etc.). FIG. 5 illustrates a customer 500 that is initiallydetected by one or more of the beacon devices 200 at a location 500 a onan exterior walkway outside of the merchant physical location 100. Atblock 402, one or more of the beacon devices 200 operate to communicatewith a customer device of the customer 500 in order to detect thecustomer 500 and collect customer location information that may betransmitted to the system provider device and associated with thatcustomer 500 and a merchant account in a database.

In an embodiment, the customer device of the customer 500 may becustomer mobile phone that is configured to communicate with the secondcommunications systems 208 in the beacon devices 200 when the customermobile phone is located in the communications areas 304 of the beacondevices 200. For example, the customer mobile phone may include a BLEcommunications system that is configured to communicate with the BLEcommunications systems in the beacon devices 200 when the customermobile phone is located in the communications areas 304 provided bythose beacon devices 200. The BLE communications system in the customermobile phone may be configured to access any data (e.g., stored in thecustomer mobile phone, from sensors located in the customer mobilephone, over a network that the customer mobile phone is connected to, indatabases accessible by the customer mobile phone over the network,etc.) and provide that data to the beacon devices 200.

In a specific embodiment, the customer shopping help system is providedby a payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of SanJose, Calif., that provides merchant services to allow the merchant totrack customer activities, and payment services that allow customers andmerchants to perform transactions with each other. In such embodiments,the merchants and customers may include accounts with the paymentservice provider such that the merchant includes a merchant account withthe payment service provider, and each customer includes a respectivecustomer account with the payment service provider. Thus, at block 402,the customer 500 may include a customer account with a payment serviceprovider that providers the customer shopping help system. In someembodiments, the customer mobile phone of the customer 500 may include apayment service application that is linked to a customer account andthat provides for automatic communication between the customer mobilephone and beacon devices 200 when the customer mobile phone is locatedin a communications area 304 provided by the beacon device 200 (e.g.,the customer 500 may have previously provided permission for theexchange of data between their customer mobile phone and the beacondevices 200). In other embodiments, the customer mobile phone or paymentservice application may ask the customer for permission to communicatewith the beacon devices 200 upon detecting a communication area 304.

Thus, at block 402, the customer 500 includes a customer device that iscommunicating with the beacon devices 200 when that customer is locatedin any of the communications areas 304. At block 402, the customerdevice of the customer 500 may operate to communicate customer locationinformation available to or determined by the customer device to thebeacon devices 200. In an embodiment, the customer device may be acustomer mobile phone that communicates location information retrievedfrom a location determination device (e.g., Global Positioning System(GPS) device) in the customer mobile phone. In another embodiment, thebeacon devices 200 may be configured to determine a location of thecustomer device using, for example, triangulation or other locationdetermination techniques known in the art. As such, as the customer 500moves through the communication areas 304 provided by the beacon devices200, customer location information associated with that customer (e.g.,retrieved or otherwise determined by the beacon devices 200 from thatcustomers mobile phone) is collected by the beacon devices 200 (e.g.,via its first communication system 204) and sent by the beacon devices200 (e.g., via operation of its beacon engine 206 and use of its secondcommunication system 208) over the network to the system providerdevice.

FIG. 5 illustrates the customer 500 initially being detected by one ormore of the beacon devices 200 at a location 500 a on an exteriorwalkway outside of the merchant physical location 100. The movement ofthe customer 500 throughout the merchant physical location 100 isindicated in FIG. 5 by dashed lines between different areas in themerchant physical location 100 where the customer 500 is detected by thebeacon devices 200 as stopping or slowing movement for some period oftime. In the illustrated example, the customer 500 is detected by thebeacon devices 200 moving through the exterior door 106 a and to an area500 b in the merchant physical location interior 104 that is locatedadjacent to or within the coffee section 108, then to an area 500 c inthe merchant physical location interior 104 that is located between theproduct shelves 120 a and 120 b, then to an area 500 d in the merchantphysical location interior 104 that is located adjacent to or within themeat section 112, then to an area 500 e in the merchant physicallocation interior 104 that is located adjacent to or within the pharmacysection 118, and then to an area 500 d in the merchant physical locationinterior 104 that is located adjacent to or within the check-out stand122 d.

While a few examples have been illustrated and described, one of skillin the art will recognize how customer location information of customersmay be retrieved using beacon devices positioned anywhere in or aroundthe merchant physical location 100 and used to track the location ofthose customers in, around, and/or relative to the merchant physicallocation 100. As such, customers may be tracked entering, moving about,parking in, and exiting a parking lot; entering, moving about, andexiting a mall; moving past merchant physical locations; entering,moving about, and existing merchant physical locations; and/or movingthrough any location covered by a communication area 304 of a beacondevice 200. Any location information retrieved from the customer deviceof a given customer may then be associated with that customer (e.g., viaa customer account) and/or the merchant (e.g., via a merchant account)such that for the merchant physical location 100, collected locationinformation associated with any particular customer may be distinguishedfrom collected location information associated with other customers.Thus, while a specific tracked path of the customer 500 is illustratedand used below in providing customer shopping help, one of skill in theart in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that customerlocation information may describe any path throughout the merchantphysical location 100 and may be used to provide the customer shoppinghelp described below.

While the examples above discuss the collection of location information,any information available to the customer device may also be collected.For example, temperature information from temperature sensors, humidityinformation from humidity sensors, pressure information from pressuressensors, physiological information from physiological sensors, and/orany other sensed information may be communicated from the customerdevice to the beacon devices 200 in substantially the same manner asdiscussed above for the location information. Furthermore, multipledifferent types of sensed information may be collected from a givencustomer device, allowing that information to be associated (e.g.,location and temperature information) such that trends around themerchant physical location 100 (e.g., a temperature profile within themerchant physical location) may be determined.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 6, the method 400 the proceeds to block 404where the customer location information is analyzed to determinemerchant physical location area(s) in which the customer has not beenlocated, and then to block 406 where one or more products are selectedthat are located in those determined merchant physical location area(s).FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of a customer shopping help system 600 thatincludes a system provider device 602 communicatively coupled to beacondevices 604, a customer location information database 606, a customerinformation database 608, and a merchant database 610. While illustratedas separate databases, the customer location information database 606,customer information database 608, and merchant database 610 may be thesame database and/or may be linked using techniques known in the art.

In an embodiment, the customer location information storage 606 maystore customer location information 606 a that is collected fromcustomers that are currently involved in a shopping session at themerchant physical location 100 (illustrated in FIG. 6 by graphical dataassociated with the customer location information collected as describedabove with reference to block 402). The customer information database608 includes customer account information 608 a, customer purchasehistory information 608 b, customer movement history 608 c, and/or avariety of other customer information known in the art, any of which maybe linked with any other customer information in the customerinformation database 608. For example, the customer account informationmay identify the customer 500, and may be linked to a customer purchasehistory of the customer 500 that includes transactions between thecustomer and the merchant at the physical merchant location 100, as wellas linked to a customer movement history of the customer 500 thatincludes customer location information collected during previousshopping sessions by the customer 500 at the merchant physical location100. The merchant database 610 may include details about the layout ofthe merchant physical location 100, product identifications, productlocations in the merchant physical location 100, the locations of salesin the merchant physical location 100, the positioning of marketingmaterials in the merchant physical location 100, and/or any othermerchant information known in the art.

At block 404, the system provider device may analyze the customerlocation information 606 a to determine merchant physical location areasthat are located in the merchant physical location 100 and in which thecustomer 500 has not been located during their shopping session. Atblock 606, the system provider device may select one or more productsthat are located in those merchant physical location areas using any ofa variety of information available to the system provider device. Whileillustrated as separate method blocks, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that blocks 404 and406 may be performed, at least partially, at the same time. A fewexamples of the variety of information that may be used along with thedetermined merchant physical location areas (in which the customer 500has not been located during their shopping session) to select productsin those merchant physical location areas are provided below, but one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognizethat any information available from the customer device (e.g., throughthe beacon devices 604), from the beacon devices 604 themselves, fromthe customer location information storage 606, from the customerinformation database 608, from the merchant database 610, and/or fromother information sources may be leverage to select products that may beof interest to the customer 500 and which are located in areas ofmerchant physical location where the customer has not been during theirshopping session.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a schematic of the merchant physical location100, which illustrates the customer location information received atblock 402, is provided to illustrate a plurality of merchant physicallocation areas 700, 702, 704 and 706 that were determined at block 404.In some embodiments, the system provider device may operate to firstdetermine all of the areas in the merchant physical location 100 thatthe customer 500 has not been located, and then reference otherinformation (e.g., product information, customer information, merchantinformation, etc.) to select products at block 406 that are included inthe merchant physical location areas 700, 702, 704, and 706, discussedin further detail below. However, the determination of merchant physicallocation areas in the merchant physical location 100 that the customer500 has not been located in during their shopping session may beperformed in a variety of manners while remaining within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Following the determination of the merchant physical location areas atblock 404 and the selection of product(s) at block 406, the method 400proceeds to block 408 where product recommendations are provided tocustomer(s). In an embodiment, the system provider device may operate tosend product recommendations over the network to the customer device ofthe customer 500 for whom the customer location information wascollected at block 402. While a few examples are provided below, theselection of products at block 406 and the provision of productrecommendations to the customer may be performed in a variety of mannerswhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. In theexamples discussed below, the customer 500 may position themselves inthe area 500 f of the merchant physical location 100 that is adjacent toor within the check-out stand 122 d (e.g., by stopping or slowly movingnear the check-out stand 122 d such that it appears that the customer500 is about to pay for the products they selected and/or leave themerchant physical location 100), and that location of the customer 500may be reported by the beacon device(s) 200 to the system providerdevice 602. In response, the system provider device 602 may performblock 408 of the method 400 and send the product recommendation. Theproduct recommendation(s) may be sent a block 408 without any requestfrom the customer 500 (e.g., as a “pop-up”, text message, email, orother communication method known in the art). However, in otherembodiments, the product recommendation may be sent while the customer500 is moving through the merchant physical location, based on a requestfrom the customer 500, and/or in a variety of other scenarios whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 a, a customer device 800 isillustrated that is associated with the customer 500 and that includes adisplay device 800 a and an input button 800 b. The display device 800 ais displaying a product recommendation screen 802 using a productrecommendation received at block 408 from the system provider device 602over the network. The product recommendation screen 802 includes amerchant physical location map 804 that shows the path of the customer500 through the merchant physical location 100, and includes a merchantphysical location area indicator 804 a positioned over the portion ofthe merchant physical location map 804 that depicts the Bakery section110. The product recommendation screen 802 also includes a productrecommendation information area 806. In one example of the illustratedembodiment, at blocks 404 and 406 of the method 400, the system providerdevice 602 used the customer location information 606 a retrieved atblock 402 to determine areas in the merchant physical location 100 inwhich the customer 500 had not been. The system provider device 602 thenretrieved merchant information from the merchant database 610 thatincluded the locations of sales, discounted pricing, and/or otherproduct pricing events throughout the merchant physical location 100,and used that merchant information and those determined areas in themerchant physical location 100 to determine that, during their shoppingsession, the customer 500 had not been located in the merchant physicallocation area 700 in which a sale, discounted pricing, and/or otherproduct pricing event is occurring. In response, the system providerdevice creates a product recommendation that is sent to the customerdevice 800 such that the product recommendation screen 802 is displayed.

As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8a , the productrecommendation information area 806 informs the customer 500 that, basedon the customer location information received during their shoppingsession, they missed a sale in the Bakery section 110 of the merchantphysical location 100, and includes sale details (“HALF PRICE ON ALLSTORE-BAKED GOODS”) along with images of the products for sale. Inaddition, the product recommendation information area 806 informs thecustomer that the merchant physical location area indicator 804 a isprovided on the merchant physical location map 804 to indicate where thesale is located, which allows the customer 500 to use their currentlocation (depicted on the merchant physical location map 804 at the endof the customer shopping session path) to determine how to find the salein the merchant physical location 100. While the embodiment associatedwith FIG. 8a is discussed as recommending to the customer that theyvisit the merchant physical location area 700 based only on a saleoccurring there, other information (e.g., information used in theembodiments discussed below) may be used to make the productrecommendation. For example, a customer purchase history and/or customermovement history may indicate that the customer 500 typically buys theproduct(s) that are on sale in the merchant physical location area 100,and that information may be used along with the sale information todetermine that the product recommendation should be provided to thecustomer.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 b, the display device 800 a on thecustomer device 800 is illustrated displaying a product recommendationscreen 808 using a product recommendation received at block 408 from thesystem provider device 602 over the network. The product recommendationscreen 808 includes a merchant physical location map 810 that shows thepath of the customer 500 through the merchant physical location 100, andincludes a merchant physical location area indicator 810 a positionedover the portion of the merchant physical location map 810 that depictsthe Dairy section 114. The product recommendation screen 802 alsoincludes a product recommendation information area 812. In one exampleof the illustrated embodiment, at blocks 404 and 406 of the method 400,the system provider device 602 used the customer location information606 a retrieved at block 402 to determine areas in the merchant physicallocation 100 in which the customer 500 had not been during theirshopping session. The system provider device 602 then retrieved customerinformation (e.g., purchase history information 608 b) from the customerinformation database 608 that includes previous purchases of producttypes by the customer 500, and used that customer information and thosedetermined areas in the merchant physical location 100 to determinethat, during their shopping session, the customer 500 had not been inthe merchant physical location area 702 in which a product type that thecustomer 500 typically purchases is located, but that the customer 500has not purchased in a particular time period. In response, the systemprovider device creates a product recommendation that is sent to thecustomer device 800 such that the product recommendation screen 808 isdisplayed.

As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8b , the productrecommendation information area 812 informs the customer 500 that, basedon the customer location information received during their shoppingsession, they did not visit the Dairy section 114, and informs them thattheir last purchase of milk indicates that they likely need to purchasemilk during their current shopping session. In some embodiments, thesystem provider device may determine that the last purchase of a producttype is associated with a product including an expiration date, and thatthe time period that has passed since their last purchase of the productis within a predetermined amount of or exceeds that expiration date. Insuch embodiments, the product recommendation may be made based on thatdetermination (e.g., that the last purchase of milk is associated with adate that indicates that milk is about to, or has already, exceeded itsexpiration date). In addition, the product recommendation informationarea 812 informs the customer that the merchant physical location areaindicator 810 a is provided on the merchant physical location map 810 toindicate where the milk located in the merchant physical location 100,which allows the customer 500 to use their current location (depicted onthe merchant physical location map 810 at the end of the customershopping session path) to determine how to find the milk in the merchantphysical location 100. While the embodiment associated with FIG. 8b isdiscussed as recommending to the customer that they visit the merchantphysical location area 702 based only on a product being located therethat a customer purchase history indicates the customer typically buysbut has not bought in a particular time period, other information (e.g.,information discussed in the embodiments herein) may be used to make theproduct recommendation. For example, merchant information and/or acustomer movement history may indicate that there is a sale on milk inthe merchant physical location 100, and that information may be usedalong with the purchase history information to determine to provide theproduct recommendation.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 c, the display device 800 a on thecustomer device 800 is illustrated displaying a product recommendationscreen 814 using a product recommendation received at block 408 from thesystem provider device 602 over the network. The product recommendationscreen 814 includes a merchant physical location map 816 that shows thepath of the customer 500 through the merchant physical location 100, andincludes a merchant physical location area indicator 816 a positionedover the portion of the merchant physical location map 810 that depictsthe Produce section 116. The product recommendation screen 814 alsoincludes a product recommendation information area 818. In one exampleof the illustrated embodiment, at blocks 404 and 406 of the method 400,the system provider device 602 used the customer location information606 a retrieved at block 402 to determine areas in the merchant physicallocation 100 in which the customer 500 had not been. The system providerdevice 602 then retrieved customer information (e.g., movement historyinformation 608 c that includes the movement patterns of the customer500 saved from previous shopping sessions), and used that customerinformation and those determined areas in the merchant physical location100 to determine that, during their shopping session, the customer 500had not been in the merchant physical location area 704 that thecustomer 500 typically stops in such that that customer is locatedadjacent product in that merchant physical location area 704. Inresponse, the system provider device creates a product recommendationthat is sent to the customer device 800 such that the productrecommendation screen 814 is displayed.

As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8c , the productrecommendation information area 818 informs the customer 500 that, basedon the customer location information received during their shoppingsession, they did not visit the Produce section 116. The productrecommendation information area 818 also informs the customer 500 thatduring their current shopping session they did not stop in the Producesection 116, which they have regularly stopped in during their previousshopping sessions. In one example, the system provider device may havereviewed merchant information from the merchant database 610 todetermine that the Produce section 116 currently includes ripe avocados,and the product recommendation information area 818 may recommendavocados to the customer 500. In another example, the system providerdevice may have reviewed customer information from the customerinformation database 608 to determine that the customer regularlypurchases avocados, and the product recommendation information area 818may recommends avocados to the customer 500. In addition, the productrecommendation information area 818 informs the customer that themerchant physical location area indicator 816 a is provided on themerchant physical location map 816 to indicate where the avocados arelocated in the merchant physical location 100, which allows the customer500 to use their current location (depicted on the merchant physicallocation map 816 at the end of the customer shopping session path) todetermine how to find the avocados in the merchant physical location100.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 d, the display device 800 a on thecustomer device 800 is illustrated displaying a product recommendationscreen 820 using a product recommendation received at block 408 from thesystem provider device 602 over the network. The product recommendationscreen 820 includes a merchant physical location map 822 that shows thepath of the customer 500 through the merchant physical location 100, andincludes a merchant physical location area indicator 822 a positionedover the portion of the merchant physical location map 822 that depictsa portion of the product shelf 120 c. The product recommendation screen820 also includes a product recommendation information area 824. In oneexample of the illustrated embodiment, at blocks 404 and 406 of themethod 400, the system provider device 602 used the customer locationinformation 606 a retrieved at block 402 to determine areas in themerchant physical location 100 in which the customer 500 had not been.The system provider device 602 then retrieved customer information(e.g., a customer shopping list from the customer device 800), and usedthat customer information and those determined areas in the merchantphysical location 100 to determine that, during their shopping session,the customer 500 had not been in the merchant physical location area 706that includes a product on the customer shopping list. In response, thesystem provider device creates a product recommendation that is sent tothe customer device 800 such that the product recommendation screen 820is displayed.

As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8d , the productrecommendation information area 824 informs the customer 500 that, basedon the customer location information received during their shoppingsession, they did not visit the portion of the product shelf 120 c thatincludes coffee, and informs them that coffee is on their shopping list.In addition, the product recommendation information area 824 informs thecustomer that the merchant physical location area indicator 822 a isprovided on the merchant physical location map 822 to indicate where thecoffee is located in the merchant physical location 100, which allowsthe customer 500 to use their current location (depicted on the merchantphysical location map 816 at the end of the customer shopping sessionpath) to determine how to find the coffee in the merchant physicallocation 100.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 e, the display device 800 a on thecustomer device 800 is illustrated displaying a shopping list productlocation screen 820 that may be provided by the system provider device602 to the customer device 800 over the network using the systems andmethods discussed above. The shopping list product location screen 820includes a merchant physical location map 828 that shows the path of thecustomer 500 through the merchant physical location 100, and includesmerchant physical location area indicators A, B, C, D, E and Fpositioned over different portions of the merchant physical location map822. The shopping list product location screen 820 also includes ashopping list 830. In one example of the illustrated embodiment, thesystem provider device may operate to retrieve a shopping list that isstored on the customer device 800 and use that shopping list todetermine the merchant physical location areas in the merchant physicallocation 100 that includes the products on the shopping list. Theshopping list 803 may then be provided with reference charactersadjacent each product (e.g., A-F in the shopping list 830) thatcorresponds to the merchant physical location area indicators A, B, C,D, E and F on the merchant physical location map 828. Thus, the customer500 may view the shopping list product location screen 820 to determinewhere in the merchant physical location 100 any product on the shoppinglist 830 is located. Furthermore, the shopping list 830 may be editablesuch that the customer may remove products and, in response, have themerchant physical location area indicator for that product removed fromthe merchant physical location map 828.

In an embodiment, the customer shopping help systems discussed above mayalso be utilized to perform a transaction between the customer 500 andthe merchant at the merchant physical location 100. As discussed above,each beacon device 200 provides a communication area 304 that may, forexample, include a 100 foot diameter. However, any of the beacon devices200 may be throttled, modified, or otherwise adjusted to reduce the sizeof their associated communication area 304 (e.g., by adjusting the powerprovided to the beacon device 200, adjusting the operation of acommunication system, etc.). For example, the operation of the secondcommunication system 208 in a beacon device 200 may be adjusted toreduce the diameter of the communication area 304 from a 100 foot radiusto an approximately 2-3 foot radius such that only a single customerdevice may communicate with that beacon device 200.

Referring to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, when the customer 500is positioned in area 500 f of the merchant physical location 100 inorder to conduct a payment transaction with the merchant to purchaseproduct(s) selected at the merchant physical location 100, the beacondevice 200 located at the check-out stand 122 d may be adjusted toreduce the size of its communication area 304 until only the customerdevice of the customer 500 is communicating with that beacon device 200.By providing such communications between the beacon device 200 at thecheck-out stand 122 d and the customer 500 at area 500 f, a paymenttransaction may then be conducted between a merchant device coupled tothat beacon device 200 and the customer device of the customer 500 byexchanging payment or identifier data that is known in the art.Furthermore, because beacon devices 200 are located throughout themerchant physical location 100, similar operations may be conducted withbeacon devices 200 at any of the check-out stands 122 a-c, the coffeesection 108, the bakery section 110, the meat section 112, the dairysection 114, the produce section 116, the pharmacy section 118, and/oranywhere else in or around the merchant physical location 100.

While the embodiments discussed above involved the tracking of a singlecustomer 500 through the merchant physical location 100, any number ofcustomers may be simultaneously tracked through the merchant physicallocation such that each customer may be provided shopping helpsubstantially as discussed above. Furthermore, multiple customers may belinked such that the locations of those multiple customers in themerchant physical location 100 may be used to provide productrecommendations. Referring to FIG. 9, a customer device linking system900 is illustrated that includes a system provider device 902communicatively coupled to the beacon devices 904 that are communicatingwith each of a first customer device 906 a and a second customer device906 b that are linked to each other (illustrated by the dashed line).The first customer device 906 a and the second customer device 906 b maybe linked based on instructions from either or both of the customersdevices 906 a and 906 b, based on linked customer device identifiersstored by the system provider device 902, based on customer locationinformation received by the beacon devices 904 from the customer devices906 a and 906 b that indicates that their associated customers enteredthe merchant physical location 100 together, and/or using any otherlinking instructions, techniques, or information known in the art. Thelinking of the customer devices 906 a and 906 b may provide benefitswhen two customers are shopping together for products, as detailedbelow.

FIG. 10 illustrates the customer 1000, along with the customer 500,initially being detected by one or more of the beacon devices 200 at alocation 1000 a on the exterior walkway outside of the merchant physicallocation 100. In an embodiment, upon detection of the customers 500 and1000 via communication between their customer devices and the beacondevices 200, the proximity of the customers 500 and 1000 may be analyzedand used to determine whether to link their customer devices asillustrated in FIG. 9. The movement of the customer 1000 throughout themerchant physical location 100 is indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 10between the different areas in the merchant physical location 100 wherethe customer 1000 is detected by the beacon devices 200 as stopping orslowing movement for some period of time. In the illustrated example,the customer 1000 is detected by the beacon devices 200 moving throughthe exterior door 106 a and to an area 1000 b in the merchant physicallocation interior 104 that is located adjacent to or within the Bakerysection 110, and then to an area 1000 c that is located adjacent to orwithin the Meat section 112.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 11 a, the display device 800 a on thecustomer device 800 is illustrated displaying a product recommendationscreen 1100 using a product recommendation received at block 408 fromthe system provider device 602 over the network. The productrecommendation screen 1100 includes a merchant physical location map1102 that shows the paths of the customers 500 and 1100 through themerchant physical location 100, and includes a merchant physicallocation area indicator 1102 a positioned over the portion of themerchant physical location map 822 that depicts a portion of the productshelf 120 c. The product recommendation screen 1100 also includes aproduct recommendation information area 1104. In one example of theillustrated embodiment, at blocks 404 and 406 of the method 400, thesystem provider device 602 used the customer location informationretrieved at block 402 from both the customer 500 and the customer 1100to determine areas in the merchant physical location 100 in whichneither of the customers 500 and 1000 had been. The system providerdevice 602 then retrieved customer information (e.g., a customershopping list from the customer device 800), and used that customerinformation and those determined areas in the merchant physical location100 to determine that, during their shopping session, neither of thecustomers 500 and 1100 had been in the merchant physical location area706 that includes a product on the customer shopping list. In response,the system provider device creates a product recommendation that is sentto the customer device 800 such that the product recommendation screen1100 is displayed.

As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11a , the productrecommendation information area 1104 informs the customer 500 that,based on the customer location information received from the customer500 and the customer 1100 during their shopping session, they did notvisit the portion of the product shelf 120 c that includes coffee, andinforms them that coffee is on their shopping list. In addition, theproduct recommendation information area 1104 informs the customer 500that the merchant physical location area indicator 1102 a is provided onthe merchant physical location map 1102 to indicate where the coffee islocated, which allows the customer 500 to determine how to find thecoffee in the merchant physical location 100.

In the illustrated embodiment, the product recommendation screen 1100also includes a linked customer messaging button 1106 that allows thecustomer 500 to send messages to the customer 1100. Referring now toFIG. 11b , the product recommendation screen 1100 is illustratedfollowing the customer 500 selecting the linked customer messagingbutton 1106. In response to the selection of the linked customermessaging button 1106, a linked customer indicator 1102 b is added tothe merchant physical location map 1102, and a messaging section 1108 isprovided that indicates that the current location of the customer 1110is indicated by the linked customer indicator 1102 b on the merchantphysical location map 1102, while also providing a messaging input boxand keypad that allows the customer 500 to send a message to thecustomer 1100 (e.g., “I'm ready to go—get coffee and creamer on productshelf 120 c on your way to check-out stand 122 d”). In an embodiment,the messaging input box may be prefilled using the informationdetermined for the product recommendation and provided on the productrecommendation screen 1100 of FIG. 11 a.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a merchant device 1200 including a displaydevice 1200 a that is displaying a merchant screen 1202 is illustrated.The merchant screen 1202 is provided to illustrate an example of how theinformation collected and analyzed for the method 400 may be used toprovide information to the merchant at the merchant physical location100. In the illustrated embodiment, the customer location informationcollected from a plurality of different customers during theirrespective shopping sessions has been analyzed to determine areas in themerchant physical location 100 that receive the least customer traffic(e.g., customer location information across a plurality of differentcustomer shopping sessions that indicates that customers are located inthose areas less often than other areas in the merchant physicallocation.) The system provider device may then access merchantinformation to make recommendations to the merchant based on the areasthat are determined in the merchant physical location 100 to receive theleast customer traffic.

In the illustrated example, the merchant screen 1202 includes a merchantphysical location map 1204 with a plurality of merchant physicallocation area indicators 1204 a, 1204 b, 1204 c, and 1204 d thatindicate the areas in the merchant physical location 100 that weredetermined to receive the least customer traffic. The merchant screen1202 also includes an area indicator information section 1206 thatinforms the merchant that the merchant physical location area indicators1204 a, 1204 b, 1204 c, and 1204 d on the merchant physical location map1204 indicate areas in the merchant physical location 100 that receiverelatively low traffic. The merchant screen 1202 also includes an firstmerchant recommendation section 1208 that informs the merchant that anarea in the merchant physical location 100 indicated by the merchantphysical location area indicator 1204 a includes a sale sign that shouldbe moved to a higher traffic area in the merchant physical location 100indicated by a merchant physical location area indicator 1208 a. Themerchant screen 1202 also includes an second merchant recommendationsection 1210 that informs the merchant that an area in the merchantphysical location 100 indicated by the merchant physical location areaindicator 1204 d includes a high value product display that should bemoved to a higher traffic area in the merchant physical location 100indicated by a merchant physical location area indicator 1210 a.

Thus, systems and methods for providing customer shopping helprecommendations have been described that utilize a network of beacondevices that are configured to communication with customer devices. Thecommunication between the customer devices and the beacon devicescollects any information that sensors in the customer devices can sense,and in specific embodiments, collects customer location information forthe customers in and around a merchant physical location to track thelocations of the customers and analyze their changing locations todetermine areas in the merchant physical location that the customer havenot been so that those customers may be helped with shopping within themerchant physical location. The systems and methods described herein mayutilize a variety of merchant and customer information to determineproducts that are located in the areas in the merchant physical locationwhere the customers have not been so that those products may berecommended to those customers.

Referring now to FIG. 13, an embodiment of a network-based system 1300for implementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated.As shown, the network-based system 1300 may comprise or implement aplurality of servers and/or software components that operate to performvarious methodologies in accordance with the described embodiments.Exemplary servers may include, for example, stand-alone andenterprise-class servers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS,a UNIX® OS, a LINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can beappreciated that the servers illustrated in FIG. 13 may be deployed inother ways and that the operations performed and/or the servicesprovided by such servers may be combined or separated for a givenimplementation and may be performed by a greater number or fewer numberof servers. One or more servers may be operated and/or maintained by thesame or different entities.

The embodiment of the networked system 1300 illustrated in FIG. 13includes a plurality of customer devices 1302, a merchant device 1304, aplurality of beacon devices 1306, a payment service provider device1308, and/or a system provider device 1310 in communication over one ormore networks 1312. The customer devices 1302 may be the customerdevices discussed above and may be operated by the customers discussedabove. The merchant devices 1304 and beacon devices 1306 may be themerchant devices and beacon devices discussed above and may be operatedby the merchants discussed above. The payment service provider device1308 may be the payment service provider devices discussed above and maybe operated by a payment service provider such as, for example, PayPalInc. of San Jose, Calif. The system provider devices 1310 may be thesystem provider devices discussed above and may be operated by thesystem providers discussed above.

The customer devices 1302, merchant device 1304, beacon devices 1306,payment service provider device 1308, and/or system provider device 1310may each include one or more processors, memories, and other appropriatecomponents for executing instructions such as program code and/or datastored on one or more computer readable mediums to implement the variousapplications, data, and steps described herein. For example, suchinstructions may be stored in one or more computer readable mediums suchas memories or data storage devices internal and/or external to variouscomponents of the system 1300, and/or accessible over the network 1312.

The network 1312 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network1312 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The customer devices 1302 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 1312. For example, in oneembodiment, the customer devices 1302 may be implemented as a personalcomputer of a user in communication with the Internet. In otherembodiments, the customer devices 1302 may be a smart phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types ofcomputing devices.

The customer devices 1302 may include one or more browser applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit the customer to browse information available over the network1312. For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may beimplemented as a web browser configured to view information availableover the Internet.

The customer devices 1302 may also include one or more toolbarapplications which may be used, for example, to provide user-sideprocessing for performing desired tasks in response to operationsselected by the customer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application maydisplay a user interface in connection with the browser application.

The customer devices 1302 may further include other applications as maybe desired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thecustomer devices 1302. In particular, the other applications may includea payment application for payments assisted by a payment serviceprovider through the payment service provider device 1308. The otherapplications may also include security applications for implementinguser-side security features, programmatic user applications forinterfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs)over the network 1312, or other types of applications. Email and/or textapplications may also be included, which allow customer payer to sendand receive emails and/or text messages through the network 1312. Thecustomer devices 1302 includes one or more user and/or deviceidentifiers which may be implemented, for example, as operating systemregistry entries, cookies associated with the browser application,identifiers associated with hardware of the customer devices 1302, orother appropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In oneembodiment, the user identifier may be used by the payment serviceprovider device 1308 to associate the user with a particular account asfurther described herein.

The merchant device 1304 may be maintained, for example, by aconventional or on-line merchant, conventional or digital goods seller,individual seller, and/or application developer offering variousproducts and/or services in exchange for payment to be receivedconventionally or over the network 1312. In this regard, the merchantdevice 1304 may include a database identifying available products and/orservices (e.g., collectively referred to as items) which may be madeavailable for viewing and purchase by the customer.

The merchant device 1304 also includes a checkout application which maybe configured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. Thecheckout application may be configured to accept payment informationfrom the user through the customer devices 1302 and/or from the paymentservice provider through the payment service provider device 1308 overthe network 1312.

Referring now to FIG. 14, an embodiment of a customer device 1400 isillustrated. The customer device 1400 may be the customer devices 800 or1302 discussed above. The customer device 1400 includes a chassis 1402having a display 1404 and an input device including the display 1404 anda plurality of input buttons 1406. One of skill in the art willrecognize that the customer device 1400 is a portable or mobile phoneincluding a touch screen input device and a plurality of input buttonsthat allow the functionality discussed above with reference to themethods above. However, a variety of other portable/mobile customerdevices and/or desktop customer devices may be used in the methodsdiscussed above without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 15, an embodiment of a computer system 1500suitable for implementing, for example, the customer devices 1302,merchant device 1304, beacon devices 1306, payment service providerdevice 1308, and/or system provider device 1310, is illustrated. Itshould be appreciated that other devices utilized by customers,merchants, beacon devices, merchant beacon communication devices,payment service providers, and/or system providers in the systemdiscussed above may be implemented as the computer system 1500 in amanner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 1500, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 1502 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 1504 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 1506 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 1508 (e.g., ROM), a disk drivecomponent 1510 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interfacecomponent 1512 (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 1514(e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component 1518 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, orvirtual keyboard), a cursor control component 1520 (e.g., mouse,pointer, or trackball), a location determination component 1522 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art), and/or a camera component 1523. In oneimplementation, the disk drive component 1510 may comprise a databasehaving one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 1500 performs specific operations by the processor 1504 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component1506, such as described herein with respect to the customer devices1302, merchant device 1304, beacon devices 1306, payment serviceprovider device 1308, and/or system provider device 1310. Suchinstructions may be read into the system memory component 1506 fromanother computer readable medium, such as the static storage component1508 or the disk drive component 1510. In other embodiments, hard-wiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement the present disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor1504 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 1510, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 1506, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 1502. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 1500. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 1500 coupledby a communication link 1524 to the network 1312 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 1500 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 1524 and the networkinterface component 1512. The network interface component 1512 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 1524. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 1504 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 1510 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Referring now to FIG. 16, an embodiment of a system provider device 1600is illustrated. In an embodiment, the device 1600 may be the systemprovider device discussed above. The device 1600 includes acommunication engine 1602 that is coupled to the network 1312 and to ashopping help engine 1604 that is coupled to a customer informationdatabase 1606 and a merchant information database 1608. Thecommunication engine 1602 may be software or instructions stored on acomputer-readable medium that allows the device 1600 to send and receiveinformation over the network 1312. The shopping help engine 1604 may besoftware or instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that isoperable to collect information from the beacon devices, analyze thatinformation, and provide the information, analysis, and recommendationsto the customer and/or merchant as discussed above, as well as provideany of the other functionality that is discussed above. While thedatabases 1606 and 1608 have been illustrated as located in the device1600, one of skill in the art will recognize that it may be connected tothe shopping help engine 1604 through the network 1312 without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on merchants and customers; however, a customeror consumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, merchant as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from acustomer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A customer shopping apparatus, comprising: anon-transitory memory storing instructions; and one or more hardwareprocessors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured toexecute the instructions to cause the system to perform operationscomprising: determining a link between a first customer device and asecond customer device based on a prior linking relationship between thefirst customer device and the second customer device; detecting thefirst customer device and the second customer device entering a merchantphysical location based on information transmitted from a plurality oflocation detection devices; linking the first customer device and thesecond customer device for a multi-customer shopping session, whilecontinuously detected at the merchant physical location; detectingrespective paths of the first and second customer devices within themerchant physical location; determining when the first customer deviceis located in a checkout area of the merchant physical location;selecting a product from a plurality of products at the merchantphysical location, located away from the detected paths of the first andsecond customer devices; transmitting a product recommendation for theselected product for display on the first customer device; and inresponse to at least one instruction received from the first customerdevice, transmitting the product recommendation for display on thesecond customer device.